HOME DEPARTMENT

ChangeUp: A Capacity Building and Infrastructure Framework

Fiona Mactaggart: I am today announcing the launch of ChangeUp—a programme of investment specifically for capacity building and infrastructure in the voluntary sector.
	ChangeUp aims to ensure that by 2014 the needs of frontline voluntary and community organisations will be met by support which is available nationwide, structured for maximum efficiency, offering excellent provision which is accessible to all, truly reflecting and promoting diversity and sustainably funded. It sets out an architecture for how that infrastructure should develop and highlights key strategic actions that will bring it into being.
	ChangeUp has been created in response to the 2002 Cross-Cutting Review on the Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery which recommended that the voluntary and community sector and Government together draw up a strategy to underpin the capacity of the sector. The Home Office has led on the development of the framework, which has included a three-month consultation period on the document Voluntary and Community Sector Infrastructure—A Consultation Document, published in September 2003.
	ChangeUp sets out the principal capacity needs of frontline organisations—especially small and medium sized organisations. The main elements are performance improvement, workforce development and leadership, ICT, governance, supporting volunteers and financing voluntary and community sector activity. Each has a clear high level objective and achievable actions which will make a difference.
	It also describes how voluntary and community sector infrastructure should be modernised and reconfigured. The emphasis is on placing the voluntary and community sector in the driving seat, helping it to work with public sector partners and funders to agree the best way to provide high quality and sustainable support to frontline organisations.
	Nationally, expertise and leadership in particular areas should be provided by "hubs" which will build on best practice and reduce confusion in the sector by bringing people together to provide strategic leadership, signpost organisations to sources of support, and act as beacons of good practice, reaching directly to frontline organisations to develop advanced thinking and good practice.
	The ChangeUp framework will be used as a planning tool for Government, funders and voluntary and community sector partners at all levels and in different sectors to develop further action and will provide a point of reference for future thinking.
	Implementation will be underpinned by Home Office investment of £72m of ChangeUp funds that will support strategic planning and catalyse modernisation of infrastructure provision to improve its quality and reach.
	Copies of the document are available in the House Library and on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk. A regulatory impact assessment is also available with the document.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare Strategy

Ben Bradshaw: I am pleased to announce today the publication of the "Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain."
	The strategy fulfils the Government's commitment made in the strategy for sustainable food and farming to work in partnership with industry, specialists and the wider community to provide an overarching framework for the development and implementation of policies in all areas of animal health and welfare. It is based on the public consultation launched on 15th July 2003 and has been jointly produced by Defra, the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly Government.
	I have arranged for copies of the "Animal Health and Welfare Strategy for Great Britain" to be made available in the Libraries of both Houses.
	Copies are also available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/ahws/default.htm

Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate

Margaret Beckett: The Government are publishing the sixth section of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate (Framework) on waste today. This is available on the sustainable development in Government website. Copies of the website, on CD-Rom, will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
	The waste section of the Framework sets for the first time a Government wide commitment to reduce waste on the Government estate, and increase recycling and composting rates. It encourages Departments to purchase re-usable, recyclable, and recycled products; and return used products to manufacturers. This will make an important contribution to the UK's target on reducing waste sent to landfill, and will help deliver our commitment to moving up the waste hierarchy towards more sustainable waste management practices.
	The Framework now requires all relevant waste management contracts to take account of measures and opportunities for reducing and avoiding the impact of waste, and for collecting waste management data. Departments must draw up sustainable waste management strategies setting out how they will deal with these issues.
	Our ongoing work on the Framework defines a set of cross-Government targets for sustainable development, and outlines the mechanisms by which Departments will be expected to achieve them. These challenging targets give a clear indication of the Government's continued determination to take a lead in the practical implementation and achievement of sustainable development.
	The Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate can be viewed at www.sustainable-development.gov.uk/sdig/improving/index.htm

NORTHERN IRELAND

Strategic Investment Board: Report and Accounts 2003–04

Ian Pearson: Today I have placed in the Libraries of the House, copies of the report and accounts 2003–04 of the Strategic Investment Board for Northern Ireland.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

Chris Pond: On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions I am announcing the publication of performance statistics for local authority administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit (HB and CTB) for the fourth quarter of 2003–04. A copy of the quarterly statistics for all local authorities in Great Britain has been placed in the Library and has been published on the Department for Work and Pensions website at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/other–stats.asp
	Publishing these statistics is part of our strategy for reforming housing benefit and for ensuring that local authorities are accountable for their performance in administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit.
	Housing benefit and council tax benefit performance statistics show that in the fourth quarter of 2003–04, authorities that returned data reported that:
	new claims were processed in an average of 47 days, compared to 53 days in the fourth quarter of 2002–03;
	some 161 authorities had met the performance standard for processing new claims (36 days), compared to 130 in the same quarter of 2002–03;
	change of circumstances were processed in an average of 14 days, compared with 17 days in the fourth quarter of 2002–03;
	some 179 authorities met the performance standard for processing change of circumstances (9 days), compared to 160 in the same quarter of 2002–03.
	The statistics are un-audited and are provided quarterly by local authorities to my Department.
	The audited best value performance information for English local authorities for 2002–03 was published by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 18 December 2003 on the best value performance indicators website at: http://www.bvpi.gov.uk/home.asp. A copy is available in the Library.
	The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Wales is also for 2002–03. This is published on the Audit Commission website at http://www.lgdu-wales.gov.uk/eng/Project.asp?id=SX99Al-A77F4BA8. A copy of the relevant extract from this site is available in the Library.
	The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Scotland is also for 2002–03 and is in the Accounts Commission publication "Performance Indicators 2002–03: Benefits, Finance and Corporate Issues", a copy of which is available in the Library.

HEALTH

Government's Response to the Health Committee's Report on elder abuse

Stephen Ladyman: The Government's response to the Health Committee's Second Report of Session 2003–04 on elder abuse, Cm 6270, has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

National Health Service Continuing Care

Stephen Ladyman: I regret that the information I provided in my written statement of 22 June contained an error in line 23 of the table, the entry for the South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority. Where it read 138 cases eligible for recompense, it should have said 69; and where it read 232 investigations completed, it should have said 163. The correct data is in the table.
	
		
			 SHA Name No. of caseseligible forrecompense Investigationscompleted Investigationsunderway 
		
		
			 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA 0 281 370 
			 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA 34 102 110 
			 Essex SHA 10 146 26 
			 North West London SHA 10 181 191 
			 North Central London SHA 8 64 61 
			 North East London SHA 0 169 11 
			 South East London SHA 60 183 90 
			 South West London SHA 62 194 21 
			 Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA 27 126 172 
			 County Durham and Tees Valley SHA 10 48 178 
			 North and East Yorkshire and North Lincs SHA 29 266 93 
			 West Yorkshire SHA 25 130 219 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire SHA 15 154 186 
			 Greater Manchester SHA 5 102 240 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside SHA 107 774 422 
			 Thames Valley SHA 4 181 202 
			 Hampshire and Isle of Wight SHA 30 386 121 
			 Kent and Medway SHA 24 186 44 
			 Surrey and Sussex SHA 5 15 860 
			 Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA 43 612 349 
			 South West Peninsula SHA 25 433 120 
			 Dorset and Somerset SHA 14 448 467 
			 South Yorkshire SHA 69 163 78 
			 Trent SHA 0 236 79 
			 Leicester, Northants and Rutland SHA 29 202 22 
			 Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA 38 412 19 
			 Birmingham and The Black Country SHA 10 213 73 
			 West Midlands South SHA 8 237 187 
			 Total—England 770 6,713 5,011

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

Keith Hill: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will publish for public consultation on 25 June, a paper on accounting for leaseholders monies.
	Service charge payers are entitled to be confident that the money they pay towards the upkeep of their building is held properly, and is used for the purposes it is provided for. This is an area which requires strengthening, and the accounting provisions in the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (the Act) provide for this.
	The consultation paper invites comments on the provisions in the Act that make changes to the way in which service charge monies are held, and the information that is provided to service charge payers.
	It sets out the proposals for regulations to be made by the Secretary of State. These regulations will set out the detailed requirements that landlords will have to comply with where the holding of service charge money and the provision of information relating to service charges are concerned.
	Copies of the paper are being sent to a wide range of interested parties including local authorities, housing associations, financial institutions and others with an interest in this issue. The closing date for responses is 24 September.
	Copies of the paper will be made available in the Libraries of the House, and will be available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at http://www.odpm.gov.uk/ tomorrow.